Crime Writer Patricia Cornwell Wins $50.9M Lawsuit

Author Patricia Cornwell was awarded $50.9 million on Tuesday in a federal lawsuit against her former financial manager, according to court documents obtained by TheWrap.

Cornwell, whose best-selling series of crime novels stars the medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, sued Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP and its former principal, Evan Snapper, in 2009 for negligence and breach of contract.

A U.S. district court jury in Massachusetts on Tuesday ruled unanimously that the financial firm cost Cornwell and her company millions of dollars in losses and unaccounted revenue.

Lawyers for the New York firm said no money was missing from Cornwell's accounts and blamed losses on the economic recession and on what they considered the author's extravagant lifestyle, which included a $40,000 per month apartment in New York City and expensive cars and helicopters.

But Cornwell, 56, said Anchin began betting aggressively with her money and, in 2009, she found that her net worth was under $13 million, despite eight-figure earnings in each of the previous four years.

James Campbell, a Boston-based lawyer representing Anchin, did not respond to calls from TheWrap requesting comment.